Tuesday, January 22, 2008

There were six incredibly loud ovations during the game yesterday afternoon. None of them were received by a member of the New York Knicks. In order, they were received by Kevin Garnett (upon his introduction), Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, RW McQuarters, Plaxico Burress and Kevin Garnett (upon his exit from the game). The closest any member of the hometeam (the Knicks not the Giants) got to that sort of thunderous applause was when Quentin Richardson got himself and Pierce ejected from the game.

If Saturday night's win over Miami was a litmus test of sorts. Are we better than the worst? Yes. Then, yesterday's MLK matinee was a reality check. Are we worse than the best? Yes. And by a good amount.

The most telling moments of the game took place in the first quarter. Yup, the first quarter. Meaning that the most important parts in the game weren't the hi jinx with Q and Pierce. Nor was it the individual spurts by Pierce, Allen and finally Garnett that put the game away. It wasn't the weird non-timeout where the Knicks were seemingly waiting around to fight while Boston was actually huddled up diagramming plays. Nope, the most revealing moments of the game where when Kendrick Perkins, one of the "small-2" in the Celtics starting five, scored 15 of Boston's first 17 points. Aside from proving that the best way to a career-high is through the Knicks frontcourt, the way that the Celtics kept feeding Perkins the ball showed that they are not only talented in the muscles and tendons and quick-twitch fiber sort of way but also in the brains and savvy and poise departments. At one point about midway through the first, Garnett received a pass at the top of the key. He was wide open. Embarrassingly wide open. But, rather than take the jump shot, he drove four steps into the paint. Predictably, the defense collapses on him and he shoots a pass to a now wide-open Perkins under the hoop for an easy two points. Similarly, Paul Pierce had assists on Kendrick's first three buckets. He had three assists before attempting a shot.

This is why the Boston Celtics are better than the New York Knicks. Their best players are secure enough to be unselfish. They put each other in a position to succeed rather than just trying to keep themselves out of a position to fail. They play against their opponent rather than just against themselves and the box score. And this is why the Celtics had a solid lead at halftime. This lead, though, was the result of a good run/collapse by the Celtics/Knicks over the last few minutes of the second. What was a three-point game with 3 minutes to go became a 14-point game heading into the tunnel.

The Knicks actually outscored the C's during the third quarter to put themselves within striking distance heading into the final quarter. Of course the third quarter was defined by the almost-fracas between Richardson and Pierce.

Q entered the game with about six and a half minutes to play in the third, replacing a painfully inept (at least offensively) Jeffries. From section 345 everything seemed ho-hum until a sequence of plays a few minutes later. Q forced Pierce into a miss on possession and then stole a poor pass attempt by Pierce next time down the floor. Not one to go quietly into the good night, Q was letting Pierce hear all about this and you could notice that two of them jawing back and forth now. After a Randolph bucket at the other end, Pierce draws three personal fouls on Q (the last being a shooting foul) and both players are awarded a technical foul. This all happens during one pro-longed possession. The last foul, the one that sent Pierce to the line for two occurred after a NY timeout. Whatever, if anything, was said to calm down Q during the TO didn't exactly work. The two were ejected and had to leave the court one at a time to avoid a fist-fight in the corridor. Still, security guards could been seen rushing down in that direction less than a minute after both were under the stands.

Foolish or not, the net gain was clearly in the Knicks favor. Q had been a non-factor and Pierce was most definitely a factor. Curry in particular seemed to be energized by the events and could even be seen rebounding the ball on the defensive end for the next few minutes. It was really amazing. To top that Curry played up to his size on the other end drawing five fouls over a stretch straddling the third and fourth quarters. Buoyed by Curry's free-throw shooting an electrifying Nate dunk the Knicks went into the fourth only down by 8.

The lead was actually down to 7 with less than ten minutes to play but a Ray Allen three-pointer triggered a 14-4 run by the Celtics that put the game out of reach. The Knicks turned the ball over twice, committed two fouls and missed multiple shots during this run. A deep, two-point jumper by House effectively ended with contest with just under five to play. The assist had come from KG.

When the final buzzer sounded the Knicks had been handily beaten by a far superior collection of players, including three of the best at their respective positions. Moreover, the Knicks were beaten by a team that is confident enough to make the extra pass to an open teammate. You could just tell that Garnett, Allen, and Pierce were all getting a kick out of Perkins demolishing the Knicks in the first half.